Nothing in Moderation
by Lavender Gaia
Summary: It's Christmas on the Watchtower and Batman is not happy about it. BMWW


Nothing in Moderation  
A Justice League story by Lavender Gaia  
Summary: It's Christmas on the Watchtower and Batman is not happy about it.  
Pairing: Batman/Wonder Woman  
Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or any related characters. They all belong to DC Comics.  
Author's Note: This is a very late (sorry!) Secret Santa present for Alittlesummerwine. I hope I did everything you wanted!

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Though he was doing paperwork in the Justice League's Watchtower, what was going through Batman's mind wasn't the cost of new equipment. It wasn't that he had almost gotten his head ripped off by Grodd the day before. It wasn't even the fact that Lex Luthor was getting out of jail—again. In fact, it had nothing to do with anything like that.

Batman was wondering whether or not there were any green and red lights left on planet Earth.

A large MERRY CHRISTMAS sign was blinking behind him, with an LED image of Santa and his reindeer flying above it every thirty seconds. Every time the loud "HO! HO! HO!" filled the room, Bruce winced a little, grinding his teeth beneath the cowl. He had already broken three pens when his grip had tightened in anger. Alfred was going to be mad if he had to order him another set of fountain pens.

Originally, he believed that if he let Flash decorate the Watchtower for the holiday season, it would be less taxing on his sanity. Flash had bugged him every second of the day. Mentioning it over the comm. link, keeping on eye on Batman's schedule so he could "spontaneously" show up when he was at the Watchtower, even calling him at home (Note to self: Change the phone number—don't tell Dick what it is). Superman was absolutely not help; the big Boy Scout actually _encouraged_ it, as if this was a rumpus room instead of a place of business.

So Bruce had given in. He already dealt with some decorations at home thanks to Alfred; a few more along the Watchtower couldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that Wally West never did anything in moderation. For a second, he had almost gotten into the Christmas spirit when he saw the absolutely delighted look on Flash's face. Then the speedster hugged him, effectively ruining the moment.

He had come into the Watchtower the next night before his Gotham patrol to see the entire inside of the building covered in everything festive. There was garland, strands of lights in every color, even a giant menorah in the middle of one of the hallways—for the Jewish heroes, Flash had said as if it were obvious. The cafeteria was suddenly serving matzo ball soup in addition to egg nog and apple cider. He had even made personalized stockings for everyone in the League, putting their logo on it in addition to their name.

The bat on his was wearing a Santa hat. Bruce did not find that amusing.

When he had mentioned about the decorations in passing while talking to his son (reiterating to him that he was not to give out the Manor's number to any of his Titan friends—especially not Roy Harper), Dick had just laughed. "Bruce, do you remember the one time you came to the Tower around Christmas time to drop _something _off?" The way he said 'something' made Bruce remember that it was pertaining to their after hours business, but he did recall the visit. The amount of lights on the T-shaped building put the Manhattan nighttime skyline to shame. He could practically see his son's smirk on the other end of the phone as Nightwing said, "Who do you think did all that?"

Now he knew that he shouldn't have been surprised. Wally's apartment was too small for many decorations, and he had been allowed to decorate all of the Titan headquarters since he was thirteen. Bruce should have been thankful that he at least asked first.

Another loud round of "HO! HO! HO!" echoed through the room, and Bruce finally snapped, fishing two batarangs out of his utility belt and tossing them behind him. "HO! HO! H-" Glancing back, he saw with satisfaction that one batarang had sliced off Rudolph's head and the other had lodged itself into Santa's jolly face.

His spirit was only uplifted momentarily as he looked back down at the paperwork in front of him. There was no way that he was going to be able to finish this now. Sliding the sheets into the drawer of the desk, he got up from his chair and went into the hallway, trying to ignore the sounds of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" that was playing over the speakers.

"Hello, Batman," Superman greeted him as he fell into step next to the Dark Knight, Wonder Woman by his side. Bruce simply grunted his hello. "We were about to go train downstairs."

"Would you like to come with us?" Diana offered, smiling at him.

For a moment, he considered it. There wasn't anything coming to mind that would make him feel better than punching something and pretending it was Flash. A little exercise could do him good. "Fine. But I have to leave soon." As he headed towards the elevator, he pretended not to notice the look shared between the other two members of the Trinity.

The three rode the elevator downstairs, each sensing that something wasn't right as they reached the training level. "Is it a little cold in here?" Diana wondered aloud, looking at the two men on either side of her.

Without pausing to answer, Batman marched forward through the hall to the largest room, freezing immediately when he saw what was inside, not even noticing that Superman crashed into his back.

It was a winter wonderland, with huge piles of snow everywhere and even more falling down from blowers situated on the walls. Stargirl swooped down, scooping up a handful and lobbing it at Supergirl as she flew past, catching the alien in the back. "Hey!" Kara protested, blowing her away as she wiped the snow out of her hair.

"No fair! No freeze breath!" Courtney complained, shivering as the wind rushed past her.

"I got ya, Stargirl!" Flash ran up next to the young blonde, tossing snowball after snowball at the girl with the S on her chest.

Supergirl blocked as many as she could, glancing over her shoulder to see her cousin. "Kal, give me a hand over here! They're ganging up on me!"

Next to him, Batman could feel the Kryptonian bouncing on the balls of his feet. "You want to go play, don't you?" Clark looked at him, blue eyes wide with excitement as he grinned sheepishly. "Go," Batman sighed, holding on to the doorframe to hold his balance as the farm boy rushed forward.

"I've got you, Kara!" he called, building up a super snowball and hurling it toward the other side of the room. Stargirl was saved by her step-father just in time and Flash rushed to the doorway, smiling happy.

"Hey, Bats, Diana," he greeted them, brushing some snow off of his the top of his red cowl.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at him from behind the mask. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"You said I could decorate the Watchtower! This is part of the Watchtower," he protested. It sounded rehearsed, as if he knew that he was going to get in trouble for it. That just made Bruce even madder. "You weren't specific. You never said, 'Flash, don't put two tons of snow in the training hall.' So I thought it'd be okay!"

Wonder Woman bent down, grabbing a small bit of the white ice in her hands. "So this is snow…"

"It's fake," Batman spat.

"Just like your holiday spirit, huh?" Flash remarked.

"Understand this," he glowered down at the speedster, lowering his voice menacingly, "If all of this isn't out of here by 12:01 on December 26, you will be in so much trouble that your grandchildren will be serving it."

The redhead saluted. "Aye, aye, captain! But do you want to play in it for now? It's fun…"

Without answering, Bruce turned around and headed back towards the elevator. He hadn't gone more than a few steps when something cold hit the back of his neck. His hand brushed it, feeling the fake snow. Whirling around, he saw Wally's jaw drop and a smirk on the Princess's face. "What do you know?" she mused innocently. "It is fun."

He tried to ignore the self-righteous grin on Diana's face as he turned back around, hitting the button for the elevator harder than he should have. Supergirl was wrong. They weren't ganging up on her; they were ganging up on him.

Before heading home, Bruce decided to stop by the cafeteria. Maybe he would get lucky and someone may have spiked the egg nog. As he sipped his warm apple cider, Diana entered the room, sitting across the table from him. "I'm sorry," she apologized, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, and licking her lips. He wondered if she did that just to tease him.

"Not a problem, Princess," he murmured indifferently. She crossed her legs under the table and it brushed against his own. Looking at her for a second, he suddenly hated her costume. It wasn't fair for her to wear that when every other woman in the world was bundled up. It made it so much more provocative.

"I've never actually played in snow before," she reminded him. "It doesn't snow in Themyscira and I've seen it before here, obviously, but I've never had time to play with it." He simply sipped his cider while Wonder Woman continued, "Doesn't it snow in Gotham?"

"It doesn't last," he told her, crinkling the empty Styrofoam cup in his hand. "It melts after about an hour and turns to brown slush. There's too much pollution for it to stay cold."

Diana raised an eyebrow. "Even where you live?"

Bruce considered the question for a minute. He saw Dick and Tim having a snowball fight, both half frozen by the time they came inside to be warmed by the fire and Alfred's hot cocoa. He saw himself helping Dick make a snowman their first Christmas together. The young acrobat had been so excited by the snow; it was a huge difference from winters in Florida. His back could feel the cold as the remembered his parents taking time out of their hectic schedules to go outside and make snow angels with him…The Batman narrowed his eyes at Wonder Woman. "It doesn't matter. I don't play in snow."

Sensing that she'd hit a sore spot, Diana just nodded. "I'm sure you don't have time for it. You're very busy."

"I am busy. I have to go get my paperwork to bring it home. At least someone should be working," he tossed his cup into the trash can, then sneered at the Amazon. "Have fun playing in the snow, Princess."

"I'm sure I will," she stood at the same time he did. "I'll walk with you. It's on the way."

Without responding, Batman headed into the hallway, the Amazon easily keeping pace with him. He felt a twinge of guilt; Diana was just trying to be nice to him, and, as usual, he was being an ass in return. Right now he just wanted to go home, hole himself up in his cave, and forget it was Christmas. No one—no matter how fabulous their legs were—was going to stop him.

"Do you think you can get all your paperwork done before your dinner tonight?" she asked nonchalantly.

Batman halted for a second, looking over at her. "How did you…?"

"Donna told me," she explained, referencing her younger sister. "She said that you were having a dinner tonight with your boys, because Nightwing is spending Christmas with her, seeing as how you agreed to work." Diana raised an eyebrow over one of her clear blue eyes.

"That's right. It's easier for me to agree to work then have everyone fighting over who gets time off for the holiday," he told her.

Diana nodded. "I'm sure you're right. By the way," she gestured for him to look up at the ceiling.

Wondering what kind of trick Flash was playing on him this time, he looked up to find a sprig of mistletoe attached to the roof. When he looked down again, the Amazon's lips were on his, caressing them gently. He responded after a moment, blood pumping through his ears as he was suddenly warmed all the way through. Her eyes were darkened with lust as she pulled away and he found that he had a hard time swallowing.

Regaining the use of his legs, he continued down the hallway to his office. "I'm working Christmas too, so I suppose I'll see you then," Diana reminded him.

"Have fun in the snow, Princess," he said, surprising even himself with the sincerity in his tone.

She reached up, cupping her hands around his face and bringing it down to meet hers. This time he was ready and he kissed her greedily, arms wrapping around her waist in passion as gripped his shoulders. It lasted far too long to be an appropriate mistletoe kiss, but he couldn't help but take all of her as he could at the moment.

Finally, she pulled out of his brace, staring at him before hesitantly moving down the hallway towards the elevator. Bruce took a minute to catch his breath before looking up at the ceiling…and finding it completely devoid of mistletoe. His eyes locked on the Amazon form moving down the hallway as she turned to smile coyly at him, "Merry Christmas, Batman."

He seemed to move on autopilot as he entered the room, ignoring the copious amount of Christmas decorations that still littered it, grabbing his paper as fast as he can. Moving back into the hallway towards the teleporters, he saw the small green plant again. Maybe Flash could keep up the decorations for another day or two. But, he decided as he reached up and plucked the sprig of mistletoe from the ceiling, hiding it under his papers, this one was his.

It was going to be a very interesting Christmas.

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A/N: Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.


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